Wednesday, October 28, 2009

I had a wonderful time completing the 23 Things and documenting my journey on this blog! My favorite things that I explored along the way were using the image generators, learning about mashups, and creating a catalog of books in Library Thing.

The technology available to us is amazing! There are so many things we can use for our libraries and classrooms that were not available to us as young learners. I love being a life-long learner, and discovering new ways to incorporate technology into my classroom and daily life has been very beneficial.

My learning experience in this program can be summed up with the word:

As I mentioned in my previous post, I use my iPod for podcasts and audiobooks. I downloaded several audiobooks and usually listen to them before falling asleep at night. I enjoy listening to them, but have only ever listened to nonfiction books. I never have tried listening to a book that I would normally read for enjoyment.

I was interesting to explore the World eBook Fair website. I didn't realize that there are books you can download for free. This would be especially helpful for students and teachers that are looking to save some money, but want to utilize classic literature. There are so many ways that we can share literature with today's technology. I know that so many people can benefit from these kinds of websites.

I was first introduced to podcasts several years ago by my mom. She found a few podcasts that were nice to listen to and we added them to our iPods. We liked to download Dr. Wayne Dyer's podcasts as well as his audiobooks. I would listen to them before falling asleep at night so that I could unwind from the day and get some positive affirmations.

I began searching for educational podcasts for this post and subscribed to Children's Book Radio. I have linked their website in case you are interested in looking them up. I think that this kind of podcast will be very valuable to me if I get a school library job. It is important to stay on top of children's literature and book reviews are a good way to do just that. Not only does this podcast give excellent book reviews, but interviews of authors are also included. This podcast will be very useful to teachers as well as librarians.

I love YouTube! I can spend time looking through videos for entertainment and laughs as well as for information. This is a video of an eight year old boy, Geoffrey Gallante, playing the trumpet. He is the same age as my students and is absolutely amazing! My husband and I are both musicians and just marvel at his talent. My husband plays the trumpet and I have tried it out. It is really hard and I can't believe how easy this boy makes it sound!

I can see how a library could use YouTube to promote events that are happening. I also found some interesting Library 2.0 videos that can educate everyone about how libraries are changing.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

I really had fun setting up my account on Library Thing. I learned that individuals, small libraries, and classrooms use this website to catalog their books. I added seven books to complement my WebQuest on Clouds and you can find the books here. I love that the cover of the books are shown and that I can see the author, copyright date, and the users who have added the books as well as comments. I found that The Cloud Book by Tomie dePaola was the most popular book that I added!

I also looked at the ways people can communicate and find others with similar books interests on this website. I typed in my city and state under "Local" to see who was using this service in my area. I love that you can connect with others in this way.

I enjoyed exploring Zoho and set up a free account to find out how it is used. There are many facets to this website including e-mail, a word processor, spreadsheet, document management, and even a wiki, chat, and a place to share with others! I can see how this would be useful to an educator or librarian. One could start a project at work, and then easily finish it at home.

I found the site self-explanatory and very user friendly! I created a document to use with my second graders about "Pumpkins." I am glad I had the opportunity to check this website out.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

I visited the CA Classroom 2.0 Wiki and added my WebQuest to the Sandbox. Here is my WebQuest for you to enjoy! I created it for second graders to learn about the three main types of clouds to go with our science curriculum in my district. I specified three links that the students would visit to read about clouds because it is very difficult for a seven year old student to do a search in my Rollyo list and find the important information. At this age, students need practice in the basics of using a computer and the Internet and I feel that this WebQuest is very appropriate for that.

Sky Detectives

Name:____________________

Date:_____________________

Subject: Clouds (Second Grade)

Professor: Laura Shuey

Introduction:

Today you are a sky detective investigating the
three different types of clouds! See if you can
be a super sleuth and detect the ways clouds
are different from each other. You will definitely
become a sky expert after you and your team
go on a sky adventure!

Task:

Today you and your team will investigate the
three main types of clouds found in our
sky--Cumulus, Stratus, and Cirrus. Your
job is to research the three types of clouds
then report your findings! Be sure to take
turns with these three jobs: · web researcher ·
artist · recorder.

Process:

1. Click on the Cumulus Cloud link below to
find pictures of this cloud and read the facts.
2. Draw a picture of a Cumulus cloud and
write a sentence to describe it.
3. Click on the Stratus link below to find pictures
of this cloud and read the facts.
4. Draw a picture of a Stratus cloud and write a
sentence to describe it.
5. Click on the Cirrus link below to find pictures
of this cloud and read the facts.
6. Draw a picture of a Cirrus cloud and write a
sentence to describe it.

Did you answer all the questions? Did you
work cooperatively with your team? Did
you check your work for spelling,
punctuation, and capitalization?

Conclusion:

You have now become a certified Sky
Detective! Congratulations, team, on
discovering the three main types of
clouds found in our sky! You are now
able to name these clouds and describe
the differences among them. Give yourself
a pat on the back for being a super sleuth!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

I enjoy collaborating with others on a Wiki. I have used PB Wiki, now called PB Works, for quite some time. I utilized this website originally for a class in my Clarion Master's program and was put into a group in order to work on a project involving the creation of a school budget.

I became even more familiar with this site when I started one for our Cherub Choir at church. It was a great place to upload songs and lyrics for parents, and since I taught the choir with a friend, we could both have access to uploading material and schedules.

I could see how libraries can use this application for patrons' collaboration on reference materials and reviews of books. Teachers could likewise incorporate Wikis into their curriculum by allowing their classes to collaborate on the topics and content being taught. Patrons and students alike will enjoy the creativity involved with participating in a Wiki.

Monday, October 12, 2009

I found an example of this program that has been modified through a Google search. The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County has a program called 23 Learning 2.0 Things. It seems that many activities are similar to this program through CLSA 2.0. Many do not understand that copyright laws apply on the Internet, or they do not care. It is so easy for people to just copy and paste, and most do not stop to think that what they are copying is someone else's work.

I enjoyed reading Tom Storey's article, Web 2.0: Where will the next generation Web take libraries? He points out the the web used to be a cool place to check out different sites but now it is a place of social networking and used in many aspects of our lives. I agree with Storey and can see that I do not go a day without using the Internet. Further, it is used more in my classroom now than ever before. Daily e-mails are the way teachers and administrators communicate with each other. We recently had a new program utilized by our school district to take attendance, lunch counts, and post grades. So even as we move into the next decade of using the Internet, I can see that its use is ever increasing.

Technorati is a great tool to use when searching blogs. Before this class, I had no idea that this type of application was available. It allows the user to search for topics in blogs based on the tags added to the post. This tool is another way to search through the endless pages on the Internet and narrows down what is available. I searched for Classroom Learning 2.0 and School Library Learning 2.0 as well as other topics that I find interesting.

The results were immediately posted and I was able to scroll through hundreds of posts that were related to my various searches. This would be helpful for any teacher or librarian who wants to stay current on topics pertaining to their field. It also allows a blogger to be a part of something bigger, and help others by adding tags to a post. I enjoyed looking at this website and I will definitely use it for both personal and professional searches.

I had a wonderful time exploring Del.icio.us as a research tool and especially liked looking through the SJLibraryLearning2 account created for this exercise. This is an amazing way to research a topic and see what websites others have already found useful. It is a great example of sharing through social networking and finding websites that you may have missed otherwise. The ability to keep the bookmarks you want in one place on the Internet is helpful when using more than one computer. Further, I like the aspect that other people can make comments on the articles found. This gives the reader more insight into the topics researched and provides more than one perspective.

I searched a few topics of interest such as second grade websites and quickly found why this tool is so helpful to educators and librarians alike. The sites bookmarked under this topic were relevant and could be narrowed down further such as Second Grade Reading, or Second Grade Math. I will definitely use this search tool in the future.